Tibetans throw shoes at Chinese embassy in Delhi

April 19, 2009

CNN-IBN
April 17, 2009

SHOE ATTACK: On Monday, 10 Tibetan students stripped to protest at
the Chinese embassy at New Delhi.

New Delhi: Tibetan protestors in New Delhi tried to storm the Chinese
embassy and throw shoes as a mark of protest. The protests have been
on this week after two Tibetans were sentenced to death by Chinese
authorities for their role in the 2008 riots in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa.

On Monday, around 10 Tibetan students stripped and locked themselves
on the barbed wire fencing surrounding the Chinese embassy at New
Delhi in protest against Chinese oppression inside Lhasa. The protest
came five days after the two Tibetans were sentenced to death. Two
others got suspended death sentences and another life imprisonment.

Chanting slogans of 'Free Tibet' the protesters stood in the
scorching sun outside the Chinese embassy demanding independence for
their homeland, before being led away by the police.

Protests by Buddhist monks against Chinese rule on March 14 last year
led to the death of 19 people and sparked waves of protests in Tibetan areas.

Tibetan exiles say more than 200 people died in the crackdown. A year
later, a tight web of troops and police throughout Tibetan areas
appeared to have deterred large-scale unrest.

A trickle of isolated protests in recent weeks, including a monk who
set himself on fire at the Kirti monastery in western Sichuan and a
bomb thrown at a government office which caused no casualties,
suggested lingering discontent.

Last month, Tibet's self-exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama,
lamented that Tibet, which he fled 50 years ago after a failed
uprising against Chinese rule, had become a "hell on earth" thanks to
repressive rule from Beijing.